Baptists In All Ages... A Short History

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Well-Known Member

A Brief Sketch of the Baptists by Century for Nineteen Centuries
Elder Ariel West, of Texas, prepared the following brief sketch by century of the Baptists through nineteen centuries. - Taken from The Baptists in All Ages, by Elder J. S. Newman.
FIRST CENTURY: There were churches in Asia Minor, Southern Europe and England. They were first called Christians at Antioch. Saul persecuted the churches. Nero and Trajan were emperors of the Roman Empire in this century. Small departures by some were made in the churches.

SECOND CENTURY: Baptists in same countries as first century. Pliny, governor of Bithynia (see Hassell's Church History, page 360). Polycarp was pastor of the Church at Smyrna until his death by burning in about 166 A. D. (see Shackelford, page 54). More departures over a larger territory in this century. Marcus Aurelius Antoninus came to the throne of the Roman Empire.

THIRD CENTURY: Churches in southern Europe, England, Wales, Asia Minor, and North Africa. Christian churches called Paterines, Novatians and Montanists. Diocletian became Emperor of Rome. Wholesale departures, and the above names of Christian churches given to them by those departing from the faith. (Hassell, p. 367, 377; Ray, p. 315; Robinson's Ecclesiastical Researches, p. 126.)

FOURTH CENTURY: Churches in same countries as in preceding centuries. Christian churches called Donatists in parts of north Africa; also Puritans in Wales. Constantine the Great became emperor of Rome. Council of Nice held A. D. 325. First recorded infant baptism, 370 A. D. (Hassell, p. 386, 387, 389; Shackelford, p. 49; Orchard, p. 92, 93).

FIFTH CENTURY: Those departing from the faith established and enforced popery in 416. A new name given to true Christian churches in some localities, to-wit, Cathari.

SIXTH CENTURY: Catholics call Baptist or Christian churches Ana-Baptists for the first time (Hassell, p. 407-409).

EIGHTH CENTURY: True Christian churches still called Ana-Baptists, Donatists. The Catholics originate the doctrine of transubstantiation in 780 A. D. In the first part of this century, Pope Stephen II instituted pouring as a legal ordinance for baptism in the Catholic church.

NINTH CENTURY: Ana-Baptists in Bulgaria. In this century the Greek Catholics and the Roman Catholics became separate bodies.

TENTH CENTURY: Baptists in Wales, Italy, and France, and called Paulicians and Ana-baptists in different countries (Smith, p. 359-360).

ELEVENTH CENTURY: Baptists were in Italy and France under the name of Paulicians and Paterines (Smith, p. 358, 360, 363).

FIFTEENTH CENTURY: Baptist churches in England and Valleys of Piedmont. In this century John Huss, a reformer, was burned at the stake (1415), but he was not a Baptist. In this century Martin Luther was born (Nov. 10, 1433), but let it be understood that his reformation had no connection with the Baptists. In this century thousands of women and children of the Waldenses were put to death by persecution (Crosby, Vol. 1, p. 18).

SIXTEENTH CENTURY: Baptists were found in France and Germany under the name of Waldenses. The Lutheran church came out of Rome as a distinct body in about 1552. The Episcopal church came out of Rome in 1534, and the Presbyterian in 1527.

SEVENTEENTH CENTURY: Baptist Churches were called Waldenses, Baptist, and Ana-Baptist. The first Baptist church in America was organized at Newport, Rhode Island, in 1638 by Dr. John Clarke and eleven others.

EIGHTEENTH CENTURY: New School Baptist movement was started in England by William Carey and Andrew Fuller. The Methodists became a distinct body from the Episcopal church in 1785.

NINETEENTH CENTURY: The New School movement spread to America. Black Rock Address, and withdrawal by the Old School Baptists. Campbellites became a distinct sect in 1827.

References: 1. Hassell: History of the Church of God from Creation to A. D. 1885, by Elders C. B. and Sylvester Hassell. 2. Smith: Smith & Cheetham's Dictionary of Christian Antiquities. 3. Shackelford: J. A. Shackelford's Historical Chart showing the Origin and History of the Baptists, c. 1891. 4. Crosby: Crosby's History of the English Baptists. 5. Orchard's History of the English Baptists... Brother Glen

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New Member

Well said, Brother Glen. If I might add to your fine post, it may be noted that this Church was established by Christ Himself during His ministry. The point of the post is that here has been a NT Church in ever age since it was established. Not by name but certainly by doctrine, ordinances and practice.

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Well-Known Member

Did you read it on the internet?... Where did you get your source? Many may have come out of the RCC who did at one time... I never read they baptised babies!... There is plenty of history in this forum on the Waldenses... The Catholic Church bathed itself in Waldensian blood... Read Church History... Brother Glen

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New Member

Hmmmm. I dunno. You are aware though that the Waldensians joined the REFORMED church during the reformation? If they were anabaptists they wouldn't have done that. I sent off an email to the American Waldensian society http://www.waldensian.org/

asking them if waldensians historically were anabaptists or paedobaptists. I'll let you know what they say.

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Retired Staff

Many so-called historians attempt to fix the beginnings of the Waldenses with one of their ablest leaders, Peter Waldo (born 1140, died 1218). This is in fact not the case. Two points can be confidently made: (1) The Waldenses are of ancient origin. An Austrian inquisitor (Catholic) in the Diocese of Passau in 1260 wrote "some say that it (Waldenses "heresy") dates back to the time of Sylvester (A.D. 325); others to the time of the apostles." David of Augsburg said, "They call themselves successors of the apostles..." An early Waldensian document, The Noble Lesson (written in 1100, 40 years before Peter Waldo was born!) assigns the beginning of the Waldensian churches to the days of the Emperor Constantine under Bishop Sylvester!

The Waldenses are closely linked to the Albigenses. The Jesuit, Jacob Gretscher, stated: "that the Toulousians and Albigenses condemned in the year 1177 and 1178 were no other than the Waldenses. In fact, their doctrines, discipline, government, manners, and even the errors with which they had been charged show the Albigenses and Waldenses were distinct branches of the same sect, or the former was sprung from the later." (Rankin, History of France, III, 198-202).

The name Waldense seems to have sprung up at the time of the Catharist stirrings throughout southern France. This name apparently derives from the Italian word "Valdesi" or the French word "Vaudois" meaning "valley" and was applied because of the usual residence of these Bible believers was in the fertile valleys of the high mountain ranges, where they would be protected by the natural land barriers from their deadliest enemies, the Church of Rome.

A great revival occurred under the preaching of Peter Waldo, who had been a wealthy Catholic merchant of Lyon, France, who was converted to Christ. He became absorbed in the Word of God and even hired two priests to translate the Scripture into his native tongue. Seeking the purity of New Testament Christianity, and desiring to preach the Gospel to the people, he literally "left all" and followed Christ. Waldo and his congregation called themselves "The Poor Men of Lyon." They were noted for their memorization of large parts of the Bible, their poverty, and their preaching. They inevitably ran afoul of the Catholic hierarchy, and were forbidden to preach without permission by Lateran III in 1179. In 1183, they were condemned as heretics. At this point they merged with other Catharist groups and for the next 35 years spread across France, Italy, and Bohemia. The Waldenses were very evangelistic. They had numerous traveling evangelists who carried small Bibles under their cloaks, always ready to preach the Gospel. Tradition says that Peter Waldo died in Bohemia.

The doctrines of the Waldenses, when seen from their own writings, are easily discerned. The Waldenses accepted the whole Bible and regarded it as authoritative. They were noted for their love for and use of the Scriptures - in a time when possessing, hearing, or reading the Bible was forbidden - by the "Church"!!! They believed the Scriptures ought to be available to all people. Many of them knew the New Testament, or great sections of it, by heart. They opposed any spiritualized interpretation of the Bible, taking it literally. They rejected Rome's claim to be the "true" church, and believed preaching should be the right of every Christian, and denied the right of priest to bind or loose, consecrate or bless.

In a Waldensian document dated 1120, in the twelfth article, they state: "We consider the sacraments as signs of holy things, or the visible emblems of invisible blessings. We regard it as proper and even necessary that BELIEVERS use these symbols or visible forms when it can be done, notwithstanding which we maintain that believers may be saved without these signs when they have neither place nor opportunity of observing them." (Perrin, Histoire Des Vaudois, I, xii, 53.)

The 7th Article of a Confession of Faith dated 1544 says: "We believe that in the ordinance of baptism the water is the visible and external sign, which represents to us that which, by virtue of God's invisible operation, is within us...And by this ordinance we are received into the holy congregation of God's people, previously professing our faith and the change of life."(Sleiden, the General History Of the Reformation, 347, London, 1689)

Peter of Clugny, in 1146, brought the following charges against the Waldenses: "They say that infants are not to be baptized, or saved by the faith of another, but ought to be baptized and saved by their own faith...And that those who are baptized in infancy, when grown up, should be baptized again...rather rightly baptized." (Hist. Eccl. Madgeburg, cent. Xii c. v. 834).

An ultimatum issued by the Pope against the Waldenses and other "heretics" in 1176 said, among other things,, "We believe that none are saved, except they are baptized; and that children are saved by baptism, and that baptism is to be performed by a priest in the church." The Waldenses rejected outright this doctrine as well as the ideas of purgatory and prayers for the dead. They believed in Heaven for the saved and Hell for the lost!

Other Catholic doctrines that were rejected by the Waldenses were: the veneration of Mary; prayers to the saints; veneration of relics; indulgences; use of images, absolution; and oath taking.

In 1183 Pope Lucius III excommunicated Peter Waldo and his followers at the Synod of Verona, and from this time on the Waldenses began to be persecuted with great severity. In 1212 five hundred Waldensians were taken prisoner in Strassburg and 80 of them were burned at the stake.

In 1380 the antipope Clement VIII sent a monk into the Waldensian Valleys to root out "heretics." Over the next 13 years several hundred were burned at the stake.

In the 15th century the persecutions began to increase, and in 1486 Pope Innocent VIII ordered an army of 18,000 men to exterminate them.

In 1545 the Waldensians of Provence were exterminated, in 1559 those of Calabria, and in 1560 those of the Piedmont were all gone. In 1655 the terrible "Piedmontese Easter" saw troops of the Marquis of Pianezza bring about the final great massacre of the Waldensians in Piedmont, where the earlier persecutions had driven them, as well as into Provence, the Cottian Alps, and Dauphiny. Some were dispersed to Germany, settling in Cologne, Frankfurt, and Nuremburg, and some went into Austria and Bohemia.

Churches calling themselves Waldensian exist in many cities of Italy today and have their headquarters in Piedmont, the major city being Turin. They represent the largest evangelical group in Catholic Italy. Unfortunately the Waldenses fell into the Protestant camp after the reformation. "Sick and tired of heart in 1530 the remnant of the Waldenses opened negotiations with the reformers, but a union was not effected until 1532. Since then the Waldenses have been pedobaptist (infant baptizers)." Today's Waldenses are modernistic, ecumenical, and more of a social Gospel organization then a Gospel preaching group. Their compromise is a clear warning to all true churches to avoid the compromises, no matter how insignificant they may seem, of the protestants and evangelicals, who would invite us into their ecumenical associations, and by so doing, eventually, and gradually, steal away our doctrine and identity.

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Well-Known Member

That was a fine article Doc Cas and I might add these doctrines can be traced to the people that held that doctrine... but as you pointed out that error soon finds entrance and the old paths and ways are left by the wayside. We find the same problems among Baptist of every creed and doctrine today. They have accepted more liberal ways and have left the ways of their forefathers. That is the way it has always been and that seems to be the history among baptist and those that held to that belief. Things are added and things are taken away and if you check church history a lot of other beliefs were of the baptist brethren first. It would be interesting to find out if not these other cults and doctrines that spring up were not of the baptist brethren originally. False doctrines and creeds just don't start overnight they had a birth somewhere and the errors were just compounded. Got to go do some research and will post my findings later!... Brother Glen

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